A Moai statue stands on Megi Island, 4km to the west of Takamatsu city of Kagawa Prefecture , looking over the Inland Sea. Megi Island is famous for the folktale "MOMOTARO", of a young hero defeating ogres. Strange as it may sound, the Moai is not real, but a replica.

The fact is that, after TADANO having made this replica for the experiment of rebuilding the real Moai statues, they donated the replica to Takamatsu City. Then it was built on the island by the City on 23 Oct.1996.
The replica is made of pale brown stone, 3.9m in height, 1.8m in width, 1.3m in depth, 10.8t in weight. Kazuhiro YAMADA, a local sculptor, who lives in Aji town of Kagawa Prefecture, made it at the request of TADANO, on the basis of a drawing measured by TADANO at Easter Island, because TADANO was an initiator of promoting "The Moai Restoration Project" organized by archeologists of Japan, the Republic of Chile, and the United States.

The following photograph shows the ceremony "Ogre Festival of Seto", performed on 3 Nov. 1996. At that time, Jaime Lagos, Chilean Ambassador ** in Japan, celebrated the completion of setting up the statue. On the occasion, he gave an address to the guests saying "The Moai Statues are one of the Seven Wonders of the world, even now veiled in mystery. I hope this Moai statue will be helpful to the children in filling up their imagination." This was a moving event, brought about as a result of the restoration of Moai statues.

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Waikiki Tiki; Art, History, and Photographs.
Available now from Bess Press Hawaii.

On 2013-01-03 13:07, tikibars wrote:This exact topic is the basis for a chapter in "Big Stone Head: Easter Island and Pop Culture", available exclusively at http://www.bigstonehead.comAt only $4.99, you can't go wrong!

I agree, it's a great ebook with awesome photos and text. And I love the big stone head moai mug, too!

Massive, five-ton head from
Easter Island on display in
front of office building in New
York City. Head was brought
to United States in effort to
attract attention to plight of
Easter Island monuments."
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Let me add one thing to Sven's cemetery pics and descriptions - I think this would be of interest to tiki carvers here on Tiki Central.

Some of the best statuary - truly amazing - which I have ever seen are in the Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia. There was a period of time in their local history, a 40-to-60-year span starting in the late 1800's I believe, when it was quite fashionable to import elaborate memorial marble statuary from Italy. The result is that we can see many life-size and superbly-realistic sculptures which make a helluva impression on any visitor. I tell people to go there just to be able to "look into the faces of angels." A few celebs are buried there as well -- Johnny Mercer is one -- along with a number of historical figures.

It's not tiki, but it is extremely memorable from the carving aspect. I highly recommend Googling some web sites which contain photos of the cemetery. The rich and deep realism which the sculptors were able to impart into their depictions of plants, flowers, flowing garments, faces, hands, body positions, and how they conveyed emotions in stone is truly breathtaking. I will never forget my first visit as a newbie. Truly memorable. I highly recommend it.